Clearwater Threshers Recap – 8/1/2018

Recaps for an indefinite period will be a little sketchy. We have guests, a favorite niece and two favorite grandchildren. A favorite daughter arrives this weekend. I find I have little time to do the write up and can’t stay up as late as usual to expand on them. When they all depart toward the end of next week, we are traveling north for a visit that culminates at CBP for the Phantasy Camp reunion game on August 18th against the Mets. The grandkids are pre-teens and my back is already sore after just one day. I opted to go to dinner with the family and missed Crawford’s initial rehab with the Threshers. SMH. I imagine I’ll have more time when I’m in the Paoli area in two weeks. In the mean time, I’m sorry for the expected drop off in content.

The Clearwater Threshers (54-51) lost to Tampa, 5-2. J.P. Crawford went 0-3 with 2 strike outs before being replaced by Jose Gomez. McKenzie Mills gave up 3 runs in five innings on 4 hits and 5 walks with 6 strike outs. Grant Dyer gave up the other 2 runs in one inning of work. The Tarpons were successful on 6 of 7 steal attempts. Five came against Mills. Their one CS was on a pickoff. The offense managed just 4 hits. Pujols and Moniak doubled, Rivas and Cabral singled. Pujols and Rivas had the RBIs. Markham had an outfield assist.

#1 Sixto Sanchez (4-3, 2.51) – placed on the 7-day DL on 4/15/18

#3 Adonis Medina (9-3, 4.64) – DNP

#6 Mickey Moniak (.255) – went 1-4 with a run scored and double

#11 Arquimedes Gamboa (.221) – went 0-4 with a K

#17 Jose Gomez (.222) – went 0-1

GCP Phillies East (20-14) split two games with the Blue Jays, losing 5-3 and winning 6-5.

Game Two: Gabriel Cotto pitched two innings. He gave one run on one hit and 3 walks. He struck out two. Justin Miller gave up 3 ER in three innings. Brian Auerbach struck out 3 in two scoreless innings and got the win.

#25 Dominic Pipkin (0-1, 3.06) –

GCL Phillies West (18-17) got trounced by the Pirates, 11-1. Bailey Falter threw 4.1 innings of rehab ball. He walked none and struck out seven, but gave up 3 ER on 7 hits. Leonel Aponte gave up 2 runs and Alexis Garcia gave up 4 ER. Abrahan Gutierrez had the Phillies’ lone RBI and one of their 5 hits. Three walks and an error played a significant role in their walkoff victory. Francisco and Smith had 3 hits each. Miller had two. Miller had 3 RBI. Conley picked a runner off first.

#14 Luis Garcia (.368) – DNP

Lehigh Valley (67-42) split with Buffalo, winning 1-0 and losing 3-2.

Game One: Cole Irvin pitched a complete game shutout. Joey Meneses provided the offense with a solo HR (20).

Game Two: Ranfi Casimiro gave up all 3 runs on 2 HRs in five innings. Valentin and Espinosa had the RBIs. Meneses (.312) had 2 hits. Walding went 0-0 with 4 walks. Logan Moore also had 2 hits.

#8 Ranger Suarez (1-0, 2.70) – DNP

#9 Enyel De Los Santos (9-3, 2.51) – DNP

#10 Cole Irvin (10-3, 2.77) – DNP

#15 Roman Quinn (.296) – recalled by Phillies on 7/27/2018

#16 Dylan Cozens (.248) – recalled by Phillies on 7/31/2018

#21 Drew Anderson (7-3, 3.99) – DNP

#28 Tom Eshelman (1-9, 5.97) – DNP

Reading (49-59) lost to Trenton, 6-1. Connor Seabold pitched four hitless innings before leaving after being struck by a line drive with nobody out in the fifth inning. Seth McGarry entred with two runners on base and gave up the tying run. The next inning he surrendered the lead. Kyle Dohy allowed 2 final runs to score and Edgar Garcia struck out 4 batters in 1.2 innings. Haseley and Hall had 2 hits each. As did Austin Bossart who had the lone RBI. Hall stole his first base at Reading.

#4 Adam Haseley (.348) – went 2-4

#5 JoJo Romero (7-6, 3.80) – placed on the 7-day DL on 7/20/18

#22 Kyle Dohy (0-2, 5.19) – 1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, HR

#23 Cornelius Randolph (.230) – went 0-3 with a run scored, K

#24 Connor Seabold (0-2, 6.42) – 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

Lakewood (68-40) beat Delmarva, 7-5. Damon Jones gave up all 5 runs in five innings. Luis Cedeno struck out 5 in three innings. Connor Brogdon picked up his 4th save. Josh Stephen’s 2-run triple drove home the game-winning runs. Stephen had 2 hits and 3 RBI. Muzziotti, Maton, Vierling, and Fitch had 2-hit games. Brito (4), Vierling (2), and Fitch (5) hit solo HRs. Ortiz had an out field assist.

#7 Jhailyn Ortiz (.223) went 0-5 with 4 K

#12 Daniel Brito (.255) went 1-5 with a run scored, RBI, HR (4)

#18 Kyle Young (3-3, 2.98) – placed on the 7-day DL on 7/15/18

#19 Spencer Howard (6-7, 4.34) – DNP

#20 David Parkinson (8-1, 1.51) – DNP

#30 Nick Maton (.280) went 2-4 with a run scored, double, BB

Williamsport (17-27) lost to Mahoning Valley, 6-5. Francisco Morales had another rough outing. He gave up 6 runs in 3.2 innings. QAustin Ross allowed 3 inherited runners to score.Oscar Marcelino struck out the side in one inning. Jose Jimenez struck out 2 in one inning. Ben Aklinski hit a solo HR. Jonathan Guzman went 3-3 with a walk. Keudy Bocio had 2 doubles and 3 RBI.

Luis Pacheco, of the DSL White, gave up 2 runs, neither of which was earned. The 2 runs scored in the 3rd inning and it was interesting. Pacheco starts the inning with K and then BBs the 2nd guy. He steals 2nd. The next batter grounds to 3rd so the runner can’t move up. The next batter strikes out. Wait, isn’t that 3 outs? Not exactly, Pacheco throws a wild pitch and then somehow has a throwing error and both runs score. Yes, that’s a 4 base error after, what should have been an inning ending K.

After a leadoff single to begin 7th, Dohy strikes out the next three: FB swinging outside to RH (hit and run), FB looking outside corner to LH, and this filth at 79 (curve I believe, but cut back like change) cut on and missed. FB 90-92, T93. pic.twitter.com/Bpj4RGgp8n

Morales getting hit so hard again concerns me. Hopefully it’s just a location problem.
Irvin has had a great year but 40 man roster issues will likely prevent him from making it to philly this year. Phils have several other choices already on the 40 plus Florimon will need a spot back too if activated. Probably Walding’s…

Having seen Morales in the GCL and XST, I feel that he has “the stuff” to be a good pitcher but that he has control issues. He would control the zone one inning and then completely lose it the next. He probably has as wide a gap between his ceiling and floor as any pitcher in the organization. If he can develop his control and refine it into command, he could be a near top of rotation pitcher. If not, he could flame out before AAA.

I speak highly of Morales because of his physical project (age, stuff, physical structure). The control is a big red flag for him — which I kind of expect for a prospect that young and that big. At 18 yo, Morales has a lot of time to get better and I’m not yet concerned.

It’s a shame but there’s just no room. Walding will already have to go for Florimon. If Eickhoff makes it back, that would be another spot. Lots of pitchers on the 40 and they may go thru many of them the last two months. There’s also still a chance for an end of month trade addition.

Well this is probably it for Walding with the Phillies, unless he signs a minor league contract after he is DFAed in the fall.
If not, he will go MLB Rule 55 and shop his talents around the league for a good opportunity. After seven years in an org, he now has the right to become his own free agent if not on the 40.

Wow – has it been that long? It’s a missed season but I’ll give the Phillies this – they seem to have done an outstanding job of rehabbing guys like Nola and Velasquez who had elbow problems so they get a free pass from me on that. I’d much rather have a healthy Sixto than a post-TJ surgery Sixto.

Seranthony was also out for two months last season.
So they take their time and ensure complete health before a pitcher returns.
Who knows …Sixto could be having the PRP injections like Nola had, and that also will take some time. barring a TJ …he should get some innings in this year, whether it is in August or in the FIL.

You are correct. I got my info from his player page –
“April 15, 2018 Clearwater Threshers placed RHP Sixto Sanchez on the 7-day disabled list.”
…but his game logs show he pitched on June 3rd as you say,

I know it says he’s been out that long, but IMO that is the wrong date. If it were true he would have pitched about 3-4 games and he pitched more than that. I think it was more like May when he went on the DL.

Medina would make sense as the one that would excite us. I was thinking Sixto might be coming off the DL w a call up but guess not. Has it really been since April? Felt like he was pitching more recently . . .

Hi JimP!! I live at the border of Berwyn and Paoli area (at PA-252) and I know the area pretty well. LHV, REA and LWD have home games in the wks of 8/13 and 8/20. If you want to visit the games and need a companion and/or driver with you, you have my email and let me know.

KuKo … Santos has definitely separated himself to be a part of next season’s starting rotation in Williamsport. After today’s start, Santos is at 47 K/3 BB this season. For me, the 2019 Crosscutters rotation should include:
Victor Santos
Ben Brown
Dominic Pipkin
Tyler McKay
Kyle Glogoski
Gabriel Cotto
When you feed from the two GCL clubs, the 2019 Williamsport offense could be very interesting/a force to be reckoned with. Just depends on which players get skipped to Lakewood. Jake Holmes will certainly not do Williamsport. The MIF duo of Luis Garcia and Nicolas Torres, and one of Abrahan Gutierrez and Logan O’Hoppe could also bypass Williamsport. The Garcia/Torres tandem will be the most interesting decision. Jonathan Guzman and Brayan Gonzalez are scheduled for Lakewood in 2019. Garcia and Torres may be showing enough to bypass Jonathan Guzman and Brayan Gonzalez (who are scheduled for Lakewood next season). Lots of depth at SS ans 2B throughout the system.

I wonder if the Phillies will do to Victor Santos as they did with Sixto and his upward progression…and skip EXST and Williamsport and go from the Gulf league to the SALLY and Lakewood the following season.
Medina on the other hand, went to Williamsport and just happened to be a year older than Sixto.

@romus – I think Victor Santos will be WIL-bound. LWD will have the quintet of Silva, Morales, Mezquita, Lindow and Eastman. The majors and upper minors are flooded with young arms so no need to rush the development of the lower minor arms.

Agree with Hinkie about the MI and C depth. Torres-Garcia will be WIL boung while Guzman-Gonzalez will be in LWD.

yes….I would think that also, but at low-A, they sometimes go with 6- man rotations and limit PCs and IPs and maintain rosters sometimes with 13 to 15 pitchers.
Sixto went to Lakewood and they had Fanti, Falter, Llovera, Medina, Paulino, Suarez and JoJo Romero all starting there at one point or another.
It will interesting to see how they move their pitchers.

KuKo … I think Colton Eastman may take the Connor Seabold route:
Limited innings at Williamsport in his draft year. Start his second year in Clearwater with the possibility of promotion to Reading if he does well at A+.

that’s possible too. I view Damon Jones as a reliever than a starter so Eastman can take Jones’ spot and join Howard-Stewart-Andrew Brown-Parkinson in CLW. There’s a chance that Rosso might be traded or picked up in the Rule 5 so that’s another roster spot to fill up.